Isabella Rossellini was "surprised" to be asked to return as a brand ambassador for Lancome.
Isabella Rossellini
The 62-year-old supermodel was fired from the beauty brand a few days after her 40th birthday because she was branded "too old" by the company despite being the highest paid model at the time, but after the being taken over by a female executive, Isabella was asked to become the face of the brand's Rénergie Multi-Glow cream and fight the stereotypes of "dream" women in adverts.
Speaking to The Cut, she said: "More than anything, I was surprised. My contract ended at 42, they told me I was too old. The executive at the time told me that adverting is about dreams. And the dream allegedly was that women dream to be young. When they called me 23 years later, I was surprised. I had only grown older. I asked to meet the executives, and there was a wonderful, new woman executive. That was a big change. I said, 'The dream is to be young. Now I'm older. How can I represent?' She said, 'I want to do a campaign that is very inclusive. Things change.'"
Isabella and the team decided on the Rénergie product for her "new chapter" because she featured in an advert for the first version of the anti-ageing cream early on in her career and wants to show how the new "glow" formula allows her to be "who she wants" rather than be told how she should look.
She said: "The story I have with Lancome feels like a romance or a novel. It's a beautiful new chapter. Then, when we were discussing what product to be assigned, we came upon. I did the original ad for it many years ago.
The new version of this cream called Glow. I love the glow. It is glamorous, elegant, and sophisticated. This is what I want. I don't want a cosmetic company to tell me what I should be. But give me the instrument to be who I want to be."
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